Tuesday, February 06, 2007

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Feb. 6, 2007) - When Golfweek made its spring predictions for the 2007 men's golf season late last week, veteran writer Ron Balicki chose ETSU senior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) as his pick to win national player of the year.

Balicki's selection is a sound one, considering Davies has posted sub-par scores in 13 of 15 rounds played this season, and he holds a stroke average of 69.4. While he's currently ranked eighth in the most recent Golfweek individual listing, Davies - a back-to-back, first team All-America selection - has spent most of the season in the Top 5, and has finished in that rare company in each of the past two seasons.

While Balicki and others are aware of Davies' prowess, his ETSU teammates Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) and Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) are also climbing the individual rankings. Power, a freshman who posted ETSU's best finish with a second place showing last week at the PING Arizona Intercollegiate, is currently ranked 42^nd, while Shaw, who finished fifth at the PING event, is 45^th in the most recent release.

As a team, Golfweek has ETSU 14^th nationally in the team rankings.

The Bucs will return to action Feb. 25-27 at the Puerto Rico Classic in San Juan. For more on ETSU golf throughout the spring season, visit ETSUBucs.com.